93 – (ITA STAGE 45) – Campagnano di Roma – La Storta

Place of Departure	CAMPAGNANO DI ROMA
Place of Arrive	LA STORTA
Length – KM	22,9
Nation of the route	Italy
Region	Lazio
Uphill Gap	400 m
Downhill Gap	510 m
CAI (Diff. Escurs.)	E
Praticability

Stage 45 – Campagnano-La Storta. Very beautiful stage from an environmental point of view. Beyond the Sorbo Valley, there is Vejo and Formello to visit. This is largely “Agro Romano”. The route takes place largely on asphalt .

You walk along the edges of the Baccano Valley until you enter the Sorbo Valley: a truly suggestive area that deserves all our respect and our wonder for having come to us without excessive tampering. After you can go up to Formello which you cross along the historic center. You pass through the Selvotta park and then a vast plateau and dirt roads. Another ford near the waterfall at Ponte Sodo and then you go down to the Mola waterfall on the Cremera stream which you cross over a small bridge. Having crossed the entire Vejo Archaeological Park, you are at the first houses of Isola Farnese. From here, after a while, you arrive at La Storta.

45 – Points of Interest

Valle del Sorbo: it is one of the most evocative places in the protected area. A few kilometers from the metropolis, in what was once the Sorbo crater, there is a valley that hosts large pastures, surrounded by mixed woods and cut by the Cremera river; in the territory of the Park the Sorbo Valleys are recognized as a Site of Community Importance due to the presence of the characteristic tuffaceous valleys of the Roman countryside, furrowed by discreetly preserved streams and which host an interesting fauna.

Formello: Presences in prehistoric times are attested in the municipal area (Valle Cancel, Terre di Bettona, Prato la Corte). In historical times the area was part of the territory of the Etruscan city of Veio, which stood in the municipal territory: numerous artifacts, tombs and the so-called alphabet of Formello, a vase that was a precious document for knowledge, remain as evidence of the long Etruscan domination of the archaic Etruscan alphabet. After the Roman conquest of Veio in 396 BC, the territory was depopulated, until the end of the seventh century when, in 780, Pope Adrian I founded the Capracorum domusculta, which opposed the territorial expansion of the abbey of Farfa, originally founded Lombard. The center declined following the Saracen raids in the 9th century

La Storta: The origin of the name derives from the Roman post station that was located on the curve of the Via Cassia, in conjunction with the Via Clodia (17 km). In the Middle Ages the town was located along the route of the Via Francigena and the Via Romea; the locality coincided with submansio II, the first after Rome, called Johannis IX (San Giovanni in Nono). This name derives from the fact that the old post station (mansio) stood at the current church, once called San Giovanni in Nono since it was located at the ninth mile from the beginning of the Via Cassia. The Via Romea came from Borgo Leonino and reached, with the Via Trionfale, Monte Mario which pilgrims called Mons Gaudii (the mountain of joy).

Agro Romano: it is a vast rural area (partly flat and partly hilly) that extends around the city of Rome. Politically and historically it has represented the area of ​​influence of the municipal government of Rome. The term was restored by Flavio Biondo (15th century). It has always been functional to the agricultural and livestock needs of the city. With the proclamation of the Republic in 510 BC, all the territory occupied by the Romans in the Latium vetus was proclaimed ager publicus, therefore the equivalent of the current state-owned land, managed by the State and concedable to individuals. The Roman municipal authorities at the time were the consuls themselves. At the time of Octavian Augustus the boundaries of the municipal authority of Rome were fixed ad centesimum  lapidem, or “to the hundredth mile” (1 Roman mile = 1482.5 m) of each consular road converging to Rome. Therefore de jure the Roman municipal authorities controlled almost all of Lazio. The landscape is the result of a long settlement process, which took place with dynamics common to other areas and completely peculiar processes, linked to the specific characteristics of the territory. The interaction between man and the environment has led to the formation of unique landscapes characterized by an integration of natural, agricultural and cultural values. From the coast towards the interior, there are cerrete, ostrieti, chestnut trees, deciduous shrubs, beech trees and mountain junipers. The typical formations of gorges (mesophilic mixed woods) and riparian belts (willow groves, alder groves and poplar groves) increase the diversity of the vegetal landscape.

Vejo: We are on the ancient Via Cassia just outside the ring road. The ancient Vejo was a very important Etruscan city, it was a bitter rival of Rome for almost 400 years, especially for the control of the trade route on the Tiber. It was besieged and conquered by Furio Camillo. The first thing you see at the parking lot is a red farmhouse (it looks like an old mill) that was the Osteria del Gambero Rosso in the “Pinocchio” of the 1972 Comencini film. At this point they shot the episode with the Cat and the Fox. (Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia) who impersonated ghosts to steal money from Pinocchio. Immediately next to the mill appears a beautiful and thunderous waterfall, “the Cascata della Mola”. After crossing the bridge, you can see his jump of 20 meters into the gorge below. Immediately on the left, starting to climb, there are some Etruscan tombs, which can be visited. Among the non-paid things that can be admired, there are in particular: the Campana tomb and the tomb of the Pillars, the beautiful gallery (excavated by the Etruscans) called Ponte Sodo. This is about 70 meters long; the waters of the Crevera stream flow inside. In many periods of the year it can be covered on foot, as long as properly equipped, as it is extremely slippery. The most prestigious part of the excavations is the Sanctuary, dedicated to the god Apollo and the goddess Minerva. Next to the temple there was a swimming pool that was used for ritual sprinkling during Etruscan ceremonies. The medieval village of Isola Farnese is beautiful, giving the feeling of being outside Rome and out of time. A jewel set in the tuff, which has remained unchanged over the centuries, with the castle, the small but beautiful church of San Pancrazio. The village, formerly owned by the Orsini family, stands in an isolated position, between the Storta valley and the San Sebastiano valley, on a tufaceous cliff. This conformation earned him the name of Insula. In 1567, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese bought the village from the Orsinis, assigning it the family name of Farnese.

please, see the Official Guide of the Via Romea Germanica (www.guidaromea.eu)

How to arrive

Roma-Ciampino airport (www.http://www.adr.it/ciampino) > shuttle from Ciampino to Termini FS Railway Station; Roma-Fiumicino airport (www.http://www.adr.it/fiumicino) > shuttle from Fiumicino FS Railway Station to Termini FS Railway Station

BUS/LOCAL TRAIN – from Termini FS Railway Station to Campagnano

Where to eat

	Typical Dishes = Più famosi	Typical Dishes = Movingitalia	Typical Dishes = Noi di Roma
Carrefour	Via Regina Margherita,26 – 00060 FORMELLO
Carrefour	Via San Sebastiano, 21 – 00063 CAMPAGNANO

Bike Service

Horseway Service

Azienda Agricola La Fattoria di Pacifico

via Della Perazzeta, 2888 – 00060 FORMELLO – RM

06-9084393 / 340-6297491 / 340-7201255

info@agriturismopacifico.it

www.agriturismopacifico.it

Pilgrim Service

Pietro Labate – Authorized Guide	Via delle Monache, 3 – 01100 VITERBO	349-4409855	pietrusco@thesantrekking.it	www.thesan.net
Luggage Transport	Via del Castro Pretorio, 32 –  ROMA	366-2676760	booking@bags-free.com	www.bags-free.com